by Ball State football has been outscored 73-3 in the Cardinals’ first two games of the 2025 season. This evening, it was at the hands of the Auburn Tigers (2-0)
“The defense played good football against a really good offensive team,” first-year Ball State head coach Mike Uremovich said. “They had a good quarterback, they got good running backs and they got good receivers … Not happy at all with our offensive execution. We kind of strung our defense out and had them out there all day. So that’s something I got to do a better job of and get fixed.”
The Cardinals’ offense ended the game with only 68 offensive yards. Through the air, redshirt senior QB1 Kiael Kelly threw for 71 yards, but the Red and White’s run game did not find momentum as they recorded negative three yards.
Uremovich said the turnaround starts in practice.
“We gotta have better practices and execute in practice,” he said. “However you play on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, you’re gonna play on Saturday.”
Ball State began the game slowly on both defense and offense, with Ball State having eight three-and-out drives and 10 punts. But while the Cardinals struggled with the football, the defense had its moments in the first half. The Red and White went into the midway break with four sacks.
“It’s encouraging. Obviously, that’s one of the better offensive lines we’ll play all year,” Uremovich said. “So if they play well against that group, it is going to bode well for the rest of the season.”
But while the defensive line had highlights throughout the contest, the Cardinals beat themselves, according to redshirt junior receiver Eric Weatherly. Kelly fumbled the ball for Ball State’s first turnover of the year and the Cardinals were also called for seven penalties, which lost them 57 yards.
Ball State redshirt junior linebacker Joey Stemler finished the loss with four tackles while sophomore defensive back Will Yates led the team with seven. Stemler said he thought the defense showed a promising performance.
“Everybody was flying around, and we can clean it up in practice. Kind of like what [Uremovich] said, it starts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Stemler said. “But I’m very pleased with how we played for about 90 percent of the game. But we can always get better week in, week out.”
However, the Tigers still managed to assert their will to victory. They finished the game with 271 passing yards — junior QB1 Jackson Arnold was 24-for-28 for 251 yards and threw three touchdowns — while recording 224 yards on the ground.
To Ball State’s new head coach, the defense alone gave them chances for success.
“The defense, honestly, I feel played well enough for us to give us a shot to win the game, if we did anything offensively,” he said. “…I don’t think anybody on our offense played well enough to win.”
Though Uremovich said this is possibly the ‘toughest test’ the team will see this year, the next week isn’t any easier. Ball State welcomes New Hampshire to Scheumann Stadium Saturday, Sept. 13, at 2 p.m.
The Wildcats are undefeated on the season (2-0) and defeated Holy Cross 19-16 Saturday afternoon.
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
